Page 30 of Naughty & Nice

All the air rushes from my lungs as if someone just took a baseball bat to my back.

“The fuck are you doing?” I whisper in utter disbelief.

I have never, ever seen him manhandle her in any way before. Okay, that’s not true. There have been times where she’s got wasted and he’s carried her home and put her to bed, but that is very, very different from what I’m currently witnessing.

He stares down at her as she remains motionless against the wall.

Her lips are parted, her eyes wide, her cheeks stained pink, and her chest is heaving.

I want to say it’s with shock. But… I know the kinds of books she reads, the kinds of things the guys do in them.

Is she… is she… enjoying this?

Suddenly, it’s as if someone hits the fast-forward button because in a flash, Noelle comes to her senses and her hands lift, pushing against Wilder’s chest as if she’s strong enough to move him.

“Get the fuck off me,” she shouts.

“Shit,” he hisses before shooting me a guilty-looking sideways glance.

My eyes narrow, trying to read what I can see dancing in his eyes, but it’s impossible.

Movement to his right catches my attention, and I look down just in time to see my best friend dart deeper into the cabin before the sound of a door slamming rips through the air.

“What the hell was that?” I demand, moving closer to my brother.

It takes him a beat longer than it usually would to shake off whatever that was, and he shrugs his shoulders. “What? Just messing around.”

I shake my head, unable to believe that was just him acting the fool.

I know Wilder. I know him better than anyone, and that was not him messing about.

It was serious. Intense.

The air between them as they stared at each other… it was charged.

Charged with something I do not want to identify.

“No.” I shake my head as my warning hangs in the air.“Not Noelle. You can have any other girl out there. Treat them as your playthings and leave them sobbing in your wake, if you must. But do not go after Noelle.”

He throws his head back and laughs, but the sound that erupts from him isn’t as light as I’d like.

“What the hell, Bro. Noelle? Your Noelle?” He tsks as he combs his fingers through his hair. “I’d never take her from you, man.” My lips purse and my teeth grind. Why don’t I believe him?

Without another word, he disappears in the direction Noelle did, leaving me standing in the middle of the mess he made that started all this, a million and one questions spinning through my mind.

9

NOELLE

“Fuck,” I breathe, wrapping my hands around the sink as I hang my head in shame.

It wasn’t my fault.

I didn’t do anything.

Well… not that time, I didn’t.

This is a mess. A ticking bomb just waiting to go bang.

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